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I suspect you're confusing advanced game design with a difference in gaming paradigms. One paradigm holds that the GM's world is massive and filled with randomness. Encounter tables represent this by introducing something to the adventure in a (relatively) unpredictable manner. The other...

Tracking. I would highly recommend OD&D/AD&D, or 3rd Edition, given your background with PF (the less you have to learn of a new system, the sooner you'll be prepared). I completely agree with the idea of scaling things back. I did the same with my game (heavily modified AD&D), where I created...

That is freaking amazing. I can just imagine the coordination possibilities.

I mean, that's pretty much industry standard, isn't it? Is there any game that claims ~ explicitly or otherwise ~ that the DM/GM doesn't need to house rule because the rules as written cover everything?

OD&D or AD&D; however, admittedly, you'd have to modify some of the rules. The combat rules, as written, simply don't work. You could borrow from 3rd or 5th Editions and create a hybrid system. This comes from my experience with these systems, and a few other medieval-based RPGs. EDIT: Just...

Completely agree. Not about those specific rules ~ I haven't looked into those yet ~ but generally, I feel it's the DM's job (for the most part) to figure out which rules make sense and to introduce fixes for those that don't.

Okay. Apparently, this is necessary. You can find my blog here. I've done a few podcasts about D&D, here, here and here. If I have to say anything more to demonstrate who I am... Frankly, I'm disappointed. I've known for some time that people online can be... after all, I was young myself...

I'm familiar with RM. They have a few good sourcebooks, like ...And a 10-Foot Pole. I used it to flesh out a list of resources for an economic system; freaking love it. (Actually, I think my brother has a contributing credit for that book. That or another ICE product; he did some work for them...

My response is similar: read the posts I've shared, consider what you can learn from them, and maybe that will help to clarify my meaning.

Odd. I don't remember that. It does. And he's on record as stating that he won't reproduce the core rules from the books, for various reasons (not the least of which include copyright infringement). You are correct on two counts. This is clearly an inaccurate statement. He's written over...

Shame.

I don't think I am. Simulationism isn't really desirable because of the difficulties involved. At some point, the complexity grows unwieldy and we're forced to abandon it because it bogs down the game. I'm looking for well researched material, well developed principles and well designed game rules.

Respectfully, I have to disagree. There are plenty of hobbies that receive far better treatment and deeper examination than you suggest D&D is capable of ~ many of them simpler at their core than D&D. Mind you, we don't have to limit ourselves to one particular RPG. We can just as easily talk...

... yeah, I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from. Might have been thinking back to my 3rd Edition days. Either way, the principle stands: we're playing a game. The players will always be aware of this. If they're not ~ if you've managed to get them so immersed that they literally forget...

Found a copy, thank you. Only just started looking it over. Has quite a few tables and even some economic data; how accurate or useful any of it will be remains to be seen. The emphasis is mine because I didn't specify a goal. I'm quite unsure where you came up with that. For one thing, the...

You can't do it every single round, to be sure. But I use initiative once per combat (and it's a group roll, with individual modifiers to set the final order). We can't achieve total immersion, to the point where players literally forget that they're sitting around a table in your kitchen ~ so...

I embrace the pause. It's an advantage we have in the game, that we don't experience in real life ~ the opportunity to pause during a tense moment, to draw that tension out, to make the players contemplate their situation. Roll the die between your fingers; pull out your notes and give the...

What's your process for making NPCs in your world? (Feel free to be as detailed as you like.)

It is very different. I recommend checking it out. I'm familiar with Grognardia. I don't know that I'd put it at the same level but that's because I haven't made my way through the whole thing yet. Unless I'm mistaken, the blog stopped in 2012; any idea of the author is producing anything...

It is, which is why I'm asking. I'm not sure a summary would really do it justice. Maybe an example? One of his recent posts is about building realistic towns for a fantasy world. There's an underlying assumption about the game, that the DM should make an effort to present a logical world. To...